The Women’s Cicle Classic 2023

Team OnForm

This weekend Team OnForm descended on Melton Mowbray for the 7th edition of the Anexo Cams Cicle Classic.

MVP: Hope Inglis

Highest Placing: Lotty Dawson 25th/2nd Junior

Quote of the Day: ‘If we played rugby instead of cycling, our faces would look like Harriet G’s every week.’ Harriet Evans

Photo: *OnForm Circle Classic Team - Freya Eccleston, Lotty Dawson, Harriet Evans, Lotta Mansfield, Millie Jenkins, Harriet Graham, Mia Smith, Hope Inglis.*

Team OnForm turned out in force for The Women’s Cicle Classic Road Race on the 26th of March 2023, with a team of eight riders and twelve support staff. The Pre-Race brief, led by Team Manager Mark Botteley and 2023 Road Captain Lotta Mansfield, was light-hearted but clear ‘ride aggressively and stay near the front where you can’. The brief was punctuated by reports of the junior men's race being fractured into small groups, with very few making it over the line or the odd lone rider returning covered head to toe in mud. Throughout this, the team maintained composure and began their final race preparations and warm-ups.

Most of the team, including the lovely support staff for the day, were feeling a mixture of excitement and nerves to test their metal on the notorious course. As the opening race of the Women’s national road series 2023, The Cicle Classic was expected to be a particularly fierce race. The race had also been moved from its traditional June date to March, making the off-road sectors even more treacherous than usual. As Team Manager Mark observed, ‘a proper hard race where the strongest riders who could cope with everything an early season race can throw at them excelled’. Mark now hopes the race will retain its March slot, enhancing its reputation as the toughest race of the year for many.

The team of eight riders, five juniors and three seniors, were all raring to go on the start line. The brisk March day brought with it some tough conditions for the riders to contend with, including strong winds and wet roads. Seven of the riders were sat comfortably with the bunch for the first 20km of the race when the race blew apart at the first QoM point. Unfortunately, the Team Mechanic Paul Smith, was called on early in the race when Freya suffered a mechanical which left her chasing the front group for the day. Paul had expected it to be a busy day running backwards and forwards to the car for spare wheels and bikes for the team, but he had not expected the extra dimension of racing the gravel sectors introduced, ‘like watching the landing on the beach scenes from Saving Private Ryan’. The race had splintered all over the technical course with Lotty Dawson among the peloton and our other riders pursuing them.

Hope Inglis, Lotta, Harriet Evans, Mia Smith and Harriet Graham were not far behind in the chase groups reeling the peloton in. At roughly 30 km into the race Harriet G and Hope were caught in an unfortunate racing accident. Harriet G managed to land on her face, effectively taking her out of the race. But Hope being the cyclo-cross warrior that she is, was straight back on and getting stuck into the chase.

Meanwhile, Lotta made the jump from one chase group to another, working her way back to the bunch to finish the race 44th. After the race, Lotta said ‘it was a brutal day out, I’m surprised by my performance, but overall, a good day’. The powerhouse that is Lotty Dawson managed to fight through all the sectors and other riders unscathed to finish the race in 25th and the second junior rider over the line.

Hope and Mia had worked their way far enough up the groups that they made it to the feed zone despite the inevitable carnage ahead, where they and many other riders were pulled from the race to clear the course for the leaders.

Further back, Harriet E, Freya, Millie and Harriet G had been steadily working with a small group of riders to make it to the feed zone. Little did they know they had been directed to go the wrong way by a marshal and ended up doing three laps of the Cold Overton loop. This put the small group of riders so far behind they had to withdraw and return to the HQ in Melton Mowbray.

Photo: *VeloUK - Mia Smith and Harriet Evans*

All of this had been observed from the Team car by rider and Director Sportif for the day, Georgia Lancaster, who gave her view of the race from a rider's perspective, ‘awesome experience in the team car watching everything unravel on such an unforgiving course. Definitely nerve-wracking’.

The team of eight all made it back to HQ in near enough one piece after the race in high spirits. Seeing Lotta and Lotty over the line with the leading groups only added to the sense of comradery among the team. Mark summed up the day well when he commented, ‘with almost certainly the youngest and most inexperienced team in the peloton, we had no real expectations,’ but valuable lessons were learned. The Onform Team can look forward to building on the unique experience after a couple of weekends racing at the toughest events the UK scene has to offer.

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